The present invention relates to an engine-powered industrial vehicle.
A hybrid vehicle equipped with an Eco-mode (an economy mode) for the purpose of improving fuel efficiency has been proposed. By pressing the Eco-mode button, the vehicle is placed in the Eco-mode in which the output torque of the vehicle is restricted for energy saving, which leads to an efficient driving of an engine. Such vehicle is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-105532.
This Publication discloses a hybrid vehicle in which, in the economy mode, torque is supplemented by the motor while the engine is being driven efficiently so as to maintain the vehicle performance for improvement of fuel efficiency. Unlike such a hybrid vehicle, in an engine type industrial vehicle having no traction motor, specifically in a forklift truck, simply operating the forklift truck in the Eco-mode so as to improve the fuel efficiency by restricting the torque may cause some troubles to some operations of the forklift trucks due to shortage of torque. For example, an industrial vehicle carrying a heavy load may not be able to climb a slope in a working site, which is supposed to be climbable, due to insufficient hill-climbing performance or insufficient engine torque.
The present invention is directed to providing an industrial vehicle capable of providing a torque restriction control in an Eco-mode that permits both improvement of fuel efficiency and maximization of vehicle performance.